The Many Worlds Theory
by HikaruKin4869
Summary: Everyone died. He, Uzumaki Naruto, was the sole survivor of the Fourth Great Ninja War, but... he didn't have to be. Things may be over for his world, but at the very least he could help keep this from happening in another. Sending his memories to another, younger version of himself, he hoped it would help. After all, he just wanted to keep her safe. NaruIno, others pending. AU
1. Chapter 1 : Please Work

**Alright, back to my roots! If you've never read any of my other stories that I eventually just stopped writing for, then hello! This will be the first Fanfiction I've written in a while, because for the past year or two I've been focusing on original stories, but since I lost my motivation to write not too long ago, I've decided to go back to where it all started and write this. Please enjoy!**

 **Also, I'm going to refrain from using most Japanese honorifics, as I find it kind of annoying nowadays. The only one I'll be keeping is -sensei. Also, bear in mind that this is going to be written on the basis of the Many Worlds Interpretation and thus will not be set in the same world as the canon series, thus you'll find that various things are different in this universe.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (Obviously.)**

* * *

The Many Worlds Theory

Chapter 1 - Please Work

Naruto sat there at the center of the aftermath of the Great War. Destruction and death surrounded him. He was the last; the only survivor, but... he didn't have to be. He knew that. If he'd been different… if he'd been stronger; more prepared, then everyone would still be alive. Hinata, Neji, Shikamaru, Sakura, Kakashi, Gaara, even Ero-Sennin and… Ino. They'd all be alive. Hell, perhaps even the Third, but… he was weak. Even so. Even if he lost here, that didn't mean he would have to lose everywhere. If he pulled off this technique correctly, then he may just be able to turn everything around for at least one version of himself.

How did he know this? Well, he didn't, but this was his best shot to make things better; even if it wasn't in this world. He'd read about it in the same scroll he'd gotten this technique from; the Many Worlds Theory. It stated that all possible pasts, presents and futures exist, but simply lie in separate, parallel universes. If this technique was right, then he could send his memories, his knowledge, back in time to his younger self and set the world onto a different course; one where everyone would live and the world would be better. So he started it, running through countless hand signs as he poured his entire being into the technique. Five, ten, fifteen minutes went by as he began to slow down, reaching the end of the hand signs and leaving only one thing left to do. Reaching into his pouch, he brought out a kunai and positioned it in front of his chest.

"Please work," he whispered, a tear rolling down his face as he plunged the kunai into his heart. It was done. Slumping over, he felt everything go cold and his eyesight beginning to fail him. As he was about to succumb to the open arms of death, he saw the area begin to glow a faint white, bringing a smile to his face. He'd done it; he'd successfully performed the technique. Now things could change for the better.

* * *

Looking up, Naruto saw what was above him. Protecting him from Mizuki's giant shuriken was none other than Iruka. He looked in horror as Iruka's blood fell onto his cheek. "Why?" Naruto asked his teacher and surrogate brother.

"Because you and I are the same," Iruka told him. As Iruka revealed his past to Naruto, something began to change inside of the boy. Every word that came from Iruka's mouth felt like both the past and the present to Naruto; a memory and a current experience. After a few moments, he pushed Iruka away just a bit, allowing himself to get up, as if his body was moving on its own.

"Naruto," Iruka said, concerned.

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto responded, looking into Iruka's eyes. He could see it. In those azure blue eyes, Iruka saw experience beyond Naruto's years and a fire that burned brighter than any he'd ever seen. Something had changed in the blond knucklehead. "Take care of this," Naruto told him, setting the Scroll of Seals in front of the bleeding man before turning towards Mizuki. Iruka wasn't the only one astonished at what was happening though, as even Naruto was surprised at what he was doing. The words that came out of his mouth felt so alien; as if they weren't his own.

"What're you gonna do, demon?" Mizuki taunted, a giant grin on his face as he laughed maniacally. Looking down at Naruto, he saw what Iruka had been seeing; a changed Naruto. His eyes looked so much older than himself, as if he was a man in a boy's body. Mizuki's grin fell a bit as he felt something that he didn't expect; fear.

Naruto said nothing as he felt his body move of its own accord again. Everything felt so precise, so calculated as Naruto's chakra began to spike and concentrate into his right hand. Before Mizuki knew it, Naruto was there in front of him; a pale blue ball of chakra spinning in his hand. This was bad and Mizuki knew it, but he couldn't move as Naruto whispered yet another foreign word. "Rasengan," he said before plunging it into Mizuki's chest, launching him backwards; flying through several branches and hitting a tree before falling to the ground unconscious. Jumping back down to the ground, Naruto smiled sadly at Iruka before everything began to blur. Spots appeared in his vision as he felt as if his head was being split open. He cried out as his knees buckled, allowing him to fall to his knees.

Scenes flashed before his eyes as his voice grew ever louder. He saw it all. He saw what was supposed to happen when he stole the Scroll of Seals. He saw when he met his team and all of their adventures together. He saw the Chuunin Exams and the invasion of the village. Then he saw the Third's funeral. Memory after memory flowed into his head until he saw himself sitting in an enormous crater, the ruins of his village in the distance. Then, everything went black and Naruto fell to the ground.

* * *

Naruto awoke to the smell of disinfectant. Opening his eyes, he found himself in a white room that he was all too familiar with. Getting up, he looked out the window as he thought of everything that had just happened to him.

* * *

Naruto looked around, finding himself to be in a blank white space that seemed to go on infinitely. "Where am I?" Naruto thought aloud.

"You're in your mindscape," a male voice said from behind him. Turning around he found himself looking at none other than himself. Well, an older version of himself actually.

"You're-" Naruto started.

"You. Yes. Or rather, I'm who you would be in a few years if I didn't come here," his older self replied, much to his astonishment.

"You're me if-" he said.

"If you kept on your current path."

"What? So you traveled back in time to help me?" younger Naruto asked. He may have seen what happened in his older self's time, but he didn't yet understand everything that was happening.

"No. I'm…" the older Naruto began, struggling to find words. "I'm not really here. This," he said, gesturing to himself. "Isn't actually me. What you're seeing here in front of you is just your mind's reconstruction of me from the memories that are being implanted into your head."

"What? I don't understand," the younger of the two said.

"Look… forget it, I don't have much time left," he told his younger self. "I'm only here until your true mindscape is fully reconstructed to hold the extra years of knowledge and memories that I'm giving you, so listen and listen well. In my world, everyone that I cared about died in the Great War that's supposed to start in a few years, but you have the ability to keep that from happening. If you start training with everything that you'll now know, you may just be able to save everyone. But… be careful with this knowledge. By giving you all of this, I've already changed this entire world. I've either saved it… or I've doomed it," he finished as the white began to disappear and be replaced with a sewer, the older Naruto fading with it. "But hey, take care of I-" was all that he was able to get out before he disappeared.

"Wait!" Naruto shouted in vain; he was gone. Turning, he saw that looking back at him were the red eyes of Kurama.

" **Hello, brat," Kurama greeted lazily.**

"Kurama," Naruto stated.

" **In the… well, not really the flesh," the bijuu chuckled.**

"So you saw everything too, huh?" Naruto asked. His future-self's mind and memories had now more or less synced up with his own, though most of his last year or so was still foggy.

" **Of course. Everything that you see, I see," he explained. "And it looks like when you performed whatever technique you did in the future, it dragged my mind and memories from that time back with you too."**

"So what should we do?" Naruto asked. It was weird that he and the Kyuubi were speaking so easily. Remembering back to when… or rather, thinking about when he would… whatever. Thinking about when his future self had first met Kurama, he laughed at how different it was now that they'd started off on good terms because of their 'history' together.

" **Nothing. Not yet, anyways," he said. "We don't know how much just a little difference will change things. For now, then we should just focus on meeting your team."**

"Yeah, that'd be a good idea," Naruto agreed.

* * *

"Naruto!" a voice shouted from the other side of the hospital room. Turning, he saw none other than Iruka standing in the doorway.

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto said happily, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. After all, like all of the others, Iruka had died in the future.

"It's good to see you're awake," Iruka told him with a smile as he sat down in a chair next to Naruto's bed.

"Thanks," Naruto replied, blinking away the tears. "How long have I been out?"

"Four days," he told Naruto. Iruka furrowed his eyebrows a bit as he looked at Naruto. His calmness wasn't what he'd expected to find in this room when the blond woke up.

"What happened after I blacked out?" Naruto questioned. Iruka paused for a second.

"Mizuki was taken by the ANBU and you were taken here, to the hospital. You fainted pretty suddenly, back there. What do you remember?" Iruka asked.

Naruto paused for a moment before answering, "Everything."

"Naruto, what Mizuki said-" Iruka began before Naruto interrupted.

"You don't have to worry, Iruka-sensei. I understand why it would have to be kept a secret."

"Naruto…"

"It's okay," Naruto said before changing the topic. "I guess I'll have to repeat the academy for another year though, right?"

Iruka chuckled. "No. No, Naruto. You don't," he said before reaching into his pocket and bringing out a brand new hitai-ate. "Your efforts against Mizuki have been acknowledged. You're now officially a genin of Konoha."

Though Naruto was sure this would happen, he still acted surprised as Iruka placed it into his hands. "Really?"

"Really," Iruka confirmed.

Naruto smiled gently as he looked down at the Konoha symbol. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

"You're welcome," he responded.

"So what's happened since then?"

"Nothing much, but you are being assigned your team tomorrow at school."

"Team?"

"Yes. As genin, you're assigned to a three-man squad lead by a jonin instructor," Iruka explained as the door opened, revealing a nurse. Taking this as his cue to leave, Iruka stood and said goodbye to Naruto before leaving. After a few seconds, Iruka stuck his head back into the room. "Come to the Academy tomorrow at noon."

"Okay, thanks, Iruka-sensei!" With that, Iruka left and the nurse began to do a quick rundown with Naruto to check how he was; if he was completely fine, he'd be able to leave within the hour. After some quick questions and a test, Naruto was allowed to leave. Quickly changing into his clothes, Naruto thanked the nurse and was about to leave when something caught his eyes. On the table was a small vase of flowers; orange daisies. Seeing him smiling at it, the nurse answered the question on his mind.

"Those are from Miss Yamanaka. She's come by a few times. You should thank her."

"Ino?" Naruto questioned. "I wonder why… whatever, thanks for telling me. I guess I'll go thank her," Then, Naruto left, making his way to Yamanaka Flowers. After a few minutes of walking, he arrived to see Ino sitting at the desk, as an image of an older version of her sitting there popped into his head. Looking off towards the side, she didn't notice Naruto until he walked up to the counter.

"Naruto!" she all but shouted as she turned to him, having caught a glimpse of him from the corner of her eye.

"Hey, Ino," Naruto responded, smiling. "Thanks for the flowers." He scratched the back of his head nervously.

"You're welcome. Iruka-sensei told me what happened. How are you doing?" Ino asked. Naruto froze for a second before Ino continued. "Chasing after Mizuki to keep him from taking the Scroll of Seals even though he's a chunin was pretty stupid, even for you," she told him matter-of-factly.

Naruto didn't know why, but those words hurt. He'd heard words worse than those before, so why did these cut so deep? "I -" Naruto tried to grasp to any words he could.

"But," Ino continued, interrupting Naruto. She looked him straight in the eyes, meeting his azure blue with her own icy blue. "It was also pretty brave," she told him with a small smile, causing Naruto to blush a bit. "Now go home and rest, you deserve it."

Naruto turned and walked to the door before turning to look at the girl, his hand resting on the doorframe. "Thank, Ino." With that, he ran home with a grin on his face that simply wouldn't leave. He didn't understand. Why was he so happy? As he made it to his apartment, he opened up his door and slipped off his shoes, putting them away into his shoe box. His apartment was a mess. Scrolls, instant ramen cups, and various other items littered his floors and table.

'I guess this should be my first task before I worry about anything else,' Naruto thought before creating a few shadow clones and getting to work; cleaning the entire apartment. After an hour of cleaning, he dispelled his clones, leaving everything spick and span. This left one thing left to do.

Turning to a cardboard box next to his door, he smiled sadly. It was his ramen box, where he kept all of his instant ramen. Packing all of the ramen cups that were scattered around it, he closed it up. Sure, he would still keep them, but he had to start eating better if he wanted to do well as a ninja. As he looked out the window, he saw that it was close to sundown.

'I guess I'll send a clone out to pick up some groceries while I train, a bit,' Naruto thought before doing just that. After the clone left, Naruto walked into his training room and picked up a piece of paper before sitting down on the floor. Being who he was, he already had an enormous chakra pool for his age, so what he needed to focus on was his control. Sticking the paper to his head with his chakra, he began to meditate with it, focusing all of his concentration on the paper.

After a few hours of this, having either dropped or blown the pieces of papers to smithereens more than a few times, Naruto decided to give it a rest. Leaving the room, he found that his clone had made him dinner before dispersing. Quickly eating it, he cleaned up before going to bathe. After doing so, he dressed himself for bed before turning off the lights and going to lie down. Lying in his bed, he stared at the ceiling for a good hour or so, just thinking about how quickly his mindset had changed after he inherited his future self's memories. Everything just felt so different. Sighing, Naruto turned to his side to try and fall asleep, only to be met with another image from his "memories." Backed by a shining full moon, the frame of an older Yamanaka Ino lied next to him, staring back at him with loving eyes. Then, the image faded, retreating into the back of Naruto's mind once again as a single stray tear ran down his face.

* * *

 **Alright, cool, there's my first chapter. Finished this at around 4 in the morning, so if there are mistakes or things don't make much sense… my bad. If you're wondering how Naruto's apartment looks like, it's the layout from the first Naruto Official Fanbook.**

 **Thanks for reading! Feel free to review if you wish, constructive criticism would be much appreciated. ^^**


	2. Chapter 2 : Teammates

**Hello again! Wow, I really didn't expect many people to actually like this story, but I suppose I was wrong. So because of that, I'm sorry about this chapter… it's not really up to par to what I want to release, but it had to be done… Also, who knew that the Hokage's Office was located at the Academy? I always thought that they were separate… Anywho, let this chapter commence! It's time to show you all just how different this world is from the original!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (Obviously.)**

* * *

The Many Worlds Theory

Chapter 2 - Teammates

Naruto gasped as he sat up in bed. Breathing heavily, he noticed his body was drenched in a cold sweat. Looking out his window, he saw the sun just beginning to poke out from behind Hokage Mountain. Plopping back down, Naruto sighed, attempting to recall what he'd dreamed of that had shaken him so much. After numerous failed attempts, he gave up and instead decided to go quickly wash away the sweat. Sitting in the bath, he thought about how different his life was from the one that his other self had lived.

" **Hey, kid," Kurama spoke in Naruto's mind as he exited the bathroom.**

"Yeah?" he responded, drying his hair.

" **You realize that you never went to register to be an official ninja since you've been in the hospital, right?"**

Naruto sighed. "Right." Looking up at the clock on his wall, he saw that it was still seven o'clock. "I guess I'll go do it now. I have plenty of time before the team assignments."

" **I wonder how this is going to change things."**

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked as he slipped on his clothes, putting on his hitai-ate last.

" **Well, your other self only met Konohamaru because he went to do this yesterday."**

"That's right!" he exclaimed as he put his shoes on. "Damn… it looks like things are already changing. I'll have to deal with Konohamaru later. For now, the team's the highest priority." With that, Naruto was out the door, dashing towards the Academy. (AN: For those confused why he's going to the Academy, refer to my note at the beginning.)

* * *

'Well that was annoying,' Naruto thought, as he exited the Hokage's office. He knew that the Third knew something was off. He tried to act the same, but he knew that the instant that he walked into the room that the Hokage had already suspected something, after all, he wasn't known as The Professor for nothing. Walking down towards the academic section of the building, he went to go sit in his classroom. He still had another hour or so before the team assignments, but he needed to sort out his thoughts.

Things were just so different from the memories that he gained. As his fellow classmates slowly trickled into the class, he noted the differences that were evident in some. Shino, while calm, was also very outgoing and talkative, unlike the solitary, stoic one from the memories. Shikamaru, though still as lazy as ever, didn't regard quite so many things, outside of fighting and hair maintenance, as "troublesome." Thus, he had a rather devil-may-care attitude and wore his hair down. Hinata wasn't exactly assertive, but at the very least, she wasn't meek; she'd even confessed to him a year ago. Finally was the one that he was most surprised about; his best friend, Sasuke.

"Hey, Naruto," Sasuke greeted as he casually sat down next to the blond. Unlike the counterpart that Naruto had seen in the memories, the Sasuke that he knew was neither cold nor arrogant. He wasn't exactly the kindest or most humble person, but while he was still at the top of the class, he didn't think anything of his talents. He'd accepted Naruto rivalry and become his closest friend after they'd sparred in their younger years. After all, they both understood how it felt to be alone.

'So different,' Naruto thought before greeting back. "Hey."

"I didn't think that you were already gonna be out of the hospital," Sasuke told him.

"Well, I bounce back pretty fast," Naruto responded with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess. But who would've thought that the class idiot would actually be able to help take down a chuunin," he teased, much to Naruto's annoyance.

"Well, I guess I'm just a lot better than anyone gave me credit for," Naruto responded.

"Oh? Well, I guess we all have moments of dumb luck," Sasuke jabbed. Before Naruto could respond though, a certain pair of voices could be heard bickering rather loudly. Turning to the door, they saw none other than Ino and Sakura as they both tried to get in through the doorway at the same time.

'Some things just don't change,' Naruto thought with a chuckle as he looked at them, he couldn't keep his eyes off of them. As they quieted down some though, he realized that it wasn't that he couldn't keep his eyes off of _them_ , he just couldn't keep his eyes off of _her_. After that image popped into his head of her last night, he couldn't stop thinking about it. Even though he'd pushed it into the back of his mind, it just kept coming back; that image of Ino lying in bed across from him as the moon glowed behind her.

"Alright, everyone, settle down!" Iruka's voice called out as he entered the room and stood at the front. "As of today, you all have become full-fledged ninjas. However, you're still genin. The tough part's still to come! From here on you'll be in a squad of three and will carry out your missions under a jounin instructor."

"What?" a few students here and there muttered.

"Hopefully we'll be on the same team," Sasuke whispered to Naruto. "Then I'll get more chances to laugh at you fail," he joked.

"Ha ha, very funny," Naruto responded dryly. "You always have to add just a little too much."

"We arranged the teams so that their overall abilities are relatively similar. I'll now announce them," Iruka told them. Naruto simply tuned it out. He figured that the teams would likely be like how they were in his memories. If this really was by their skills, then nothing should have changed."Next, Team Seven; Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke."

'Bingo. Looks like things shouldn't be too different from what my other self experienced,' Naruto thought.

"Nice," Sasuke said as he and Naruto bumped fists.

"Next, Team Eight; Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino." A few smiles came from them as they looked at each other, having bonded during the tracking exercises earlier in their academy years.

"Team Nine is still in circulation, so onto Team Ten; Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji." A loud sigh quickly came from Ino.

"Of course I get stuck with you two idiots for even longer," she groaned jokingly with a smile. She may have found them annoying at times, but they were still two of her closest friends.

"Come back in an hour and I'll introduce you to your jounin instructors. You're dismissed," Iruka announced, going to sit down at the desk behind him.

"Alright, what to do for an hour…" Naruto thought aloud.

"Wanna get something to eat?" Sasuke asked, standing up.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Naruto agreed, as they walked out the door.

"Ichiraku's?" Sasuke asked.

"No, let's try somewhere else," Naruto replied. Sasuke instantly stopped in his tracked.

"What? Are you actually saying that you don't want Ichiraku's?" Sasuke asked, gawking at the blond. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I am. I just… think that I should start eating something other than ramen all the time," Naruto told the Uchiha. Sasuke simply kept looking at Naruto, unsure of how to react.

"Who are you?" he finally asked with a chuckle.

"I am the ghost of foodie past!" Naruto mocked, putting his hands up and wiggling his fingers.

"Idiot," Sasuke teased as they walked out of the building.

"Hey!" Naruto all but yelled. "Thank you." They both laughed as they walked out the gate, only to see a certain pink-haired girl waiting. "Hey, Sakura."

"H-hi," Sakura stuttered, avoiding their gaze as her cheeks slowly began to match her hair.

'Right,' Naruto thought. She was also different. While around Ino she was relatively the same as she was in his other self's life, but around anyone else it was an entirely different story. If she could speak more than a few sentences to someone other than Ino, then it was nothing short of a miracle. She also looked more like her older self, as she'd never grown out her hair; having kept it short throughout her Academy days.

"Hi, Sakura," Sasuke greeted back with a smile, as she was one of the few girls in their class that didn't constantly fawn over him. "Naruto and I are going to get some lunch, would you like to join us?"

Sakura simply nodded, not trusting herself to speak. With that, they were off to search for somewhere to eat. Finding a small restaurant, they went in and ordered their food. Sasuke quickly struck up a conversation about how they believed their instructor would be, fully voicing his opinion that he didn't really care as long as they didn't annoy him. The conversation was rather back and forth between the rivals as Sakura simply listened, unsure of how to enter it.

"So how about you, Sakura?" Sasuke asked, noticing how nervous the girl was. Seeing her mouth seeming to open and shut a few times as her face quickly began to match her hair, he assured her that it was okay. "Take your time," he told her with a smile.

She nodded as she took a few breaths. "I-I think that he's going to b-be c-cool. M-maybe a little m-m-mysterious?" she stuttered, looking down, unable to return the gazes from the boys. She looked like she was on the verge of tears and Naruto couldn't help but feel a little sad for her. Just what had happened to her that her social anxiety was this bad? He couldn't believe it, but he missed the Sakura from his other's life. After their food eventually came and they finished their meals, Sasuke led them out and back to the Academy. As they made it back into their class, they saw that they were the last ones back, having made it with only a minute or so left before their scheduled meet-up with their instructors.

After a few more minutes, multiple jounin began to file into the room, leaving eight jounin standing up at the front with Iruka. One by one, the jounin called for their teams to follow them, leaving only Team 7. Seeing this, Iruka, who had been standing in the front, sighed loudly and sat on the edge of his desk.

"Why did I know this was going to happen?" Iruka groaned.

"Know what was going to happen, Iruka-sensei?" Sasuke asked. How different this Sasuke was from his counterpart still shocked Naruto. After all, their personalities were nearly two sides of the same coin.

"I'm sorry, you three. You're probably going to be waiting her for a while," the chuunin told them. Seeing the puzzled expression on the young genin's faces, he elaborated. "Your jounin instructor, as you'll find out, is always late to everything."

Of course, Naruto knew that and knew why he was always late, but he still couldn't help but be slightly annoyed. He had hoped that Kakashi was at least better about his lateness in this world. It couldn't be helped, they'd simply have to wait. Thus, they all found themselves sitting around the class with Iruka having left not long afterwards. They stayed like this, simply talking to one another for another hour or so before the door opened again, revealing the silver haired jounin.

"Hello," Kakashi greeted.

* * *

"Neko, fetch Inoichi for me," Hiruzen commanded from his desk as an ANBU with a cat mask appeared in front of him.

"As you wish, Lord Hokage," she stated before disappearing. Taking a long drag from his pipe, he leaned back in his chair. Sighing out the smoke, he thought about what he had seen the night of Mizuki's betrayal.

'That was the Rasengan,' he thought, remembering the bright blue orb of chakra that Naruto had used to take down Mizuki. 'How does Naruto know the Rasengan? The only one in the world that should know that technique now is Jiraiya.' As he thought about it, a single question popped into his mind, 'Is he even Naruto?' Just as he began to ponder that thought, the door opened and Inoichi walked into the room.

"You wished to see me, Lord Hokage?" Inoichi asked.

"Yes," he responded simply.

"Is there something wrong?" the man asked, seeing the concerned look on the Third's face.

"I am in need of your clan's techniques." He paused, looking at his desk. "I need you to mind sweep Naruto."

Inoichi's eyes widened at the command. "For what purpose?" he asked.

The Third stayed quiet before waving his hand, sending away the ANBU and forming a sign, ensuring that he was alone with Inoichi. Looking straight into the eyes of the head of the Yamanaka clan, he answered. "Naruto may not be Naruto."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that he may not be who we think he is and I need you to see if my suspicions are correct, but… be discreet if you can."

"As you wish," Inoichi responded with a bow before leaving the room, a remorseful expression on his face for what he was about to do.

* * *

After the team had introduced themselves like Kakashi had wanted them to, they were dismissed. With a small wave goodbye to her teammates, Sakura left the two boys. Waving back, Naruto and Sasuke walked towards their apartments. The sun was just beginning to set when they reached Naruto's apartment. For some reason, Sasuke had taken to walking with Naruto to his apartment a couple years back before going to his own.

Just as Naruto was about to walk up the steps though, he stopped. He didn't know why, but he kicked the first step three times with his right foot and then spun around on his left to look at Sasuke. As he turned, he simply saw an all-too-familiar smirk appear on his face.

"Damn, it took you long enough to gain your memories, dumbass," Sasuke said.

* * *

 **Wait, what? So Sasuke knows? … Yeah, yeah, he does. How? Well, basically, I'm jumping through some loopholes that I had in my first chapter to make this work, so it might get complicated, but you'll see what happens next time. I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't that good, I just needed it to be done with so that the story could progress. Well, until next time, yeah? See you!**


	3. Chapter 3 : Past Future?

**Hello again! Nothing really to say, except thanks for liking the story! So let's get onto it! What's going to happen this time? I don't actually know, so why don't we find out together?**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto. (Obviously.)**

* * *

The Many Worlds Theory

Chapter 3 - Past… Future?

"What?" Naruto asked, looking back at Sasuke with wide eyes. "What did you just-"

"I said that you're a dumbass who took his took his sweet time to gain his memories. My God, you're an idiot," Sasuke sighed, shaking his head.

"That's definitely not what you said, but that's beside the point. How do you-"

"I'll explain inside," Sasuke cut him off again, nudging him up the stairs and into his apartment. As they arrived in the small apartment, Sasuke left his sandals at the door and went to sit down on Naruto's bed.

"So?" Naruto asked, leaning against his table.

"You're not the only one that used that technique in that world," Sasuke began, his tone shifting to become much more serious. "I also did. Your memories of that last year are still fuzzy aren't they?"

Naruto answered uneasily."Yeah. Well, except-"

"Except for the last moments of that life." Sasuke finished.

Naruto stayed quiet for a few moments. "Yeah."

"I thought so, but…" Sasuke sighed. "Those memories aren't right. Well… they're not completely right, anyways. When I got the memories of that time, I thought that I was the only one too, but as it turns out, I wasn't," he said, gesturing to Naruto.

"But that doesn't explain how you know that I have the memories," Naruto pressed.

"I was getting there. You see, those final moments from that life have a few holes. My guess is that it's because we technically died at that point; our brains weren't able to fully process that information and commit it to our long-term memory. So, instead, it filled in the holes with false information. As for how I know, it's because we were both there in our last moments. We performed the technique together."

"Wait, so we both came back together?" Naruto asked as he began pacing around the room.

"Yeah, basically."

"When did you get your memories?"

"When I was seven, right after the massacre," he replied morbidly.

"So you've been living with these memories for five years?"

"Yeah."

"How come you got your memories so much earlier than me? And how did you know when I got them?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I don't know why I got mine so early, but our other selves did consider it as a possibility. That's how I knew. When we were down at the front and you kicked the stairs three times with your right foot and then turned around on your left; that was the signal that you decided on, right down to the time between each kick. Though you don't actively remember, it was probably in your subconscious. It's why every now and then you'll do or say things without really knowing why. Your body's just reacting to things you subconsciously remember."

Naruto leaned up against the wall next to his bed, looking down as he took everything in. Everything that Sasuke was saying certainly made sense. He thought he would be in this alone; trying to save a world by himself, but he wasn't. Maybe, just maybe, if it was the two of them, they really could do it. The floor certainly seemed interesting as he thought, but a question came up in his mind that made him look back at the Uchiha.

"What if the things that happened to our other selves don't happen in this world?" he questioned.

Sasuke sighed, hanging his head. "I honestly don't know. They sent these memories to us to help us get stronger to prepare for those events, but this world is different from theirs."

"So what? We train, get stronger and hope that it does something for us? Twiddle our fingers and just wait?"

"We can't exactly do much else," Sasuke responded. "We're still genin. We don't have any pull."

Naruto sighed as he slid down the wall, sitting against it. With all those extra years of memories, he certainly felt like he was twelve going on thirty. "So I guess since I don't remember any of the things that you've been talking about, it all happened during our last year?"

"Yeah," Sasuke confirmed. As if reading Naruto's mind, he answered his question before it was asked. " Over time and with the help of certain triggers, you'll slowly regain the memories of that last year. That's how I remembered it all. Though it did take about another year before it all mostly came back. The fact that you were also coming back didn't even come to me until about two years ago."

Naruto paused for a second to absorb that information. "So then why'd you become my friend in this world? It could've changed things and as you said, you didn't know I was coming at first."

"Well," Sasuke sighed. "I'd be lying if I didn't say that it was because I felt guilty for what I did in the other world, but… I guess it's because I was envious." Naruto looked over at Sasuke curiously.

"Why would you envy me?"

"Because you're able to smile so brightly," he told the blond with a sad smile; looking down at his hands as they clutched onto his shorts. "Because you've always been able to smile and… because you never gave up on me. Even when I betrayed you; when I betrayed everyone. You were always there, ready to forgive me. So when I got these memories, I thought that maybe, just… maybe, I could finally be that brother that you always tried to be for me."

"Sasuke-" Naruto began. He never knew that Sasuke had felt like this. So much guilt was carried in the boy's voice. He was only twelve. Even if they'd gained memories from those other versions of themselves, that didn't change the fact that they'd never actually done any of those things they remembered. They weren't the same, but Sasuke still felt the weight from that other world. He blamed himself for his other's wrongdoings.

"Save it," Sasuke told him, getting up from the bed and turning towards Naruto. "I know that I said that we can only train for now, but what do you think we should do?"

Naruto sighed, looking up at Sasuke from his position on the floor. "Like you said, we're just going to have to train; get ready for whatever may happen in the future. There's not much else we can do for now."

Sasuke's lip nearly tugged into a smirk as he knelt onto one knee. "As you wish, Lord Hokage."

Lord Hokage. The title rang in Naruto's head as a rush of memories hit him; that same head-splitting pain returned as images appeared in his mind. He saw himself wearing the Hokage's hat and a cloak that was oh-so-similar to his father's. He saw as he commanded armies against Madara. Then he saw as everyone died, leaving only Sasuke and himself to fight. Finally, he saw as he leaned down to Ino's bloodied body, tears in his eyes as she told him to fight and be the hero that she knew he was. Then, he felt everything go black as he lost consciousness.

Sasuke sighed as he picked the blond up and set him into his bed. The big surges of memories were definitely painful. It was a miracle that they'd never occurred when he was in public. Putting on his sandals, he left Naruto's apartment. After all, even if he'd taken it once before, he still needed to prepare for the test that he, Naruto and Sakura would have to take tomorrow.

* * *

Inoichi, watched with keen interest at the exchange between Naruto and Sasuke as he hid on the roof across from Naruto's apartment. It seemed… strange, to say the least. He didn't know what they were talking about, but from their body language, he could tell how serious it was. Certainly, it could've been about what they would do on the test that they would have to take the next day, but it just didn't seem to fit. Also, that kneel to Naruto from Sasuke definitely didn't fit. That movement felt too rehearsed, too practiced to have simply been done on a whim. No, it was the same kneel he would often take when speaking to a superior. From what he'd heard from Ino, the two were friends, but right now they seemed to be more than that.

'Why's he unconscious?' Inoichi thought as Sasuke set Naruto into his bed. What he was seeing was definitely strange to say the least, but he supposed that he should be grateful that Naruto had passed out. After all, it made his job easier. With that, he set his hands out in front of himself as he performed his clan's signature technique.

* * *

Inoichi opened his eyes to find himself in what looked like a sewer. The murky water covered his feet, but… the scent that penetrated his nose was almost floral; though, like a wisp, it came and disappeared as if never there.

'Weird,' he thought as he looked around. The passage seemed to go on endlessly, going on until it was too dark to perceive what was beyond. He didn't need to see to know where things were though. He could feel it; the overwhelming power that emanated from one end. He just needed to head the other direction. Doing just that, he walked. What seemed like tens of minutes went by before he found the end; a single wooden door.

'What is this?' Inoichi thought as he searched the door for some way to open it; a handle, a lever, anything, but he found nothing. Everything was silent as he stared it down. He didn't know what possessed him to, but he found himself simply laying his hand upon the frame. A single drop of water fell behind him as his brow furrowed. He wondered why he did that, but then with a single blink, the door was gone. Like it was never there; gone in an instant, the passage simply led on into a pure white room. As he walked through, he found the room filled with various pictures. Turning back around to look at the passage he came from, he found that it was gone. This was definitely going to be an interesting experience to say the least.

* * *

"Why didn't you tell me that I became Hokage?" Naruto asked Kurama, lounging on his seat upon the bijuu's head. He was trapped in his mindscape for the moment until his memories had resynchronized or… something like that, according the the fox. Removing the gate certainly created a lot of room.

"I didn't know either," he simply responded. "Like you, my memories of that last year are still cloudy. My memories may synchronize with my mind faster, but that last year seems to be locked or something. It's like there's a block to keep me from remembering them."

Naruto sighed. "This memory thing is so confusing," he complained. All went silent as the two closed their eyes. Kurama's soft breathing was the only thing that echoed around the vast room. That was until a single drop of water disturbed that peace. Instantly, both sets of eyes shot open, looking over to the passageway out of the room.

"You don't think that-" Naruto began.

"Someone's here," Kurama confirmed. "It must be a Yamanaka."

"Inoichi?" Naruto suggested.

"Most likely. He was probably sent by the Hokage." Kurama was on full alert now. If anyone learned about the other world, it might have serious repercussions on the future of this world.

"Yeah. He wouldn't have any other reason. It should be fine though, right? He may be at the door, but he shouldn't be able to get into the memory room."

Kurama's tenseness slowly began to whittle away as he responded, "That's right. It should only be accessible to you and your fami-" Kurama stopped as his eyes widened. Naruto raised his brow as he jumped down to the floor, looking back that the fox.

"What's wrong?"

"Your family. I didn't set that room up solely so that you didn't need to worry about someone invading your mind and seeing your memories. I also created it so that someday your parents could see what you've done, but…"

"But what?" Naruto asked. Kurama's tone was concerning him.

"I doubt that you remember, but I do."

"Remember what?"

"Kid, he's your father-in-law."

Naruto's eyes widened at this information. Of course, it all made sense now; that image of Ino lying across from him and his more recent one of her bloodied corpse in his hands. Both images contained a single similar object, he could almost see it in front of him now; a single ring. She was his wife in the other world.

"Sasuke said that certain things may be subconsciously remembered without me actively remembering it. If that's true, then he may already be inside."

"I'm sorry, kid. I screwed up," Kurama admitted.

"It's okay. We'll fix this. Can you get me to the room?" Naruto asked. Instantly, one of Kurama's tails whipped down between Naruto and one of the walls. Quickly retracting, it revealed an open doorframe.

"Done," he responded. Naruto nodded, smiling grimly as he ran through to find Inoichi standing there, looking back at him. Both blonds stayed silent, simply staring at eachother until the Yamanaka spoke.

"Just who are you?"

* * *

Naruto sighed as he sat down next to Sasuke under a tree in the Third Training Ground. The bell test that they would have to take would begin in a few hours, so he might as well rest until them.

"What's wrong with you? Not ready?" Sasuke asked.

"No, that's not it," he responded, massaging his face. Looking around, he made sure that they were the only ones around before continuing. "Inoichi knows."

"What? What do you mean, he knows?"

"I mean that he knows. He knows about the other world," Naruto sighed. Feeling the look that Sasuke gave him at this revelation, he continued. "He mind-walked me last night after I passed out. Kurama set up the memories inside of a room in my mindscape to keep anyone but myself and family members out, but… as you said yesterday, my mind still subconsciously retained the memories, so he got in. Since he was… you know."

"Your father-in-law in the other world," Sasuke confirmed with a sigh. "I swear, you've had your memories for less than a week and you're already messing things up."

"It'll hopefully be fine. I somehow convinced him to not tell the old man about it for now, but…"

"We can't be completely certain."

"Yeah. We'll just have to wait and see what happens," Naruto said as he spotted Sakura walking to them on the opposite side of the field. The two boys both sighed. This was their true beginning on this journey. What was to come would likely be both their past and their future.

* * *

 **Alright, that's it for this chapter! Sorry if it got kind of confusing at times. If you feel like you need some clarification on something, then just put it in a review or something and I'll address it next chapter. Also, don't worry, the chapters will likely get longer as I go. Anywho, see you all next time!**


	4. Chapter 4 : Team 7ish

**Alright, chapter four! Thanks for all of the positive responses again! Also, to respond to a question I got, no, I wasn't influenced by Mortal Kombat 9 when I began writing this. I actually haven't played a single MK game in years. I was actually inspired to write this after a Game Theory marathon I had, aha. Well, let's get to the story now!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (Obviously.)**

* * *

The Many Worlds Theory

Chapter 4 - Team 7… ish

"So you're saying that you didn't find anything strange in his mind?" the Third asked for what Inoichi swore was the hundredth time since he'd arrived.

"Yes, that's right. I don't know how he was able to use the Rasengan, as you told me, but he had no memories that were out of the ordinary."

The old man sighed, leaning back into his chair. "I don't understand how that could be," he groaned. "Just… keep an eye on him when you can, then. If he does anything else out of the ordinary, I want you to report to me immediately. I'd inform Kakashi, but he already has enough on his hands. I put him into a difficult enough situation as it is."

"As you wish, Lord Hokage," Inoichi simply responded, bowing before leaving the room. Turning to look out the window, the old man took a long drag of his pipe. Just what was happening?

* * *

"So we just have to get those two bells from you?" Naruto asked.

"Exactly," Kakashi confirmed with a smile.

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard then," he replied, doing a quick stretch. After some discussing, he and Sasuke had decided to simply go into this test like they were completely green. After all, though they had the "battle experience" from their other selves, their bodies simply weren't as strong or mature. Sasuke had had years to adapt his older selves fighting style to his current body, but that simply wouldn't work for Naruto. He had always been a brawler and without Sage Mode to use the Frog Kata, he was simply left to use his Shadow Clones and creativity once again.

"Sure, feel free to think that," Kakashi taunted with a smile. "Now, remember to come at me with the intent to kill or else you won't stand a chance." His voice was so sickly sweet as he said that. This was definitely the same Kakashi that his other self had known.

"Now, why don't we begin on the count of three?" the cyclops continued, pulling out his far-too-familiar orange book. Sasuke's foot slightly twitched to his right. "One." Naruto reached into his weapon pouch. "Two." Sakura slowly inched towards the forest on her left. "Three." Instantly all three genin were shrouded in a plume of smoke before they each jumped; Sasuke and Sakura disappearing into the forest, while Naruto leaped straight at the jounin from the cloud he'd created.

"A direct attack, huh? Not exactly the most impressive of strategies," Kakashi said as Naruto slashed at him with a kunai. Easily dodging it, he grabbed Naruto's wrist and twisted it, causing the blond to drop his kunai. "Never attack an opponent stronger than you head on." With that, Kakashi used his other arm to elbow Naruto in the gut, knocking the wind out of him before kicking his feet out and punting him into the river.

"That was pathetic," Sasuke groaned from the tree he was perched in, his eyebrow twitching rapidly at the… spectacular show. Naruto may have been his commander in the other world, but he really was just an idiot for doing that.

"Thanks for the kunai," the jounin remarked as he picked up the kunai that had been dropped and tossed it up and down a few times before setting it into his weapons pouch. Casually whistling, he walked back to the single tree in the clearing and leaned against it, continuing to read.

In the forest, Sasuke sat on a branch, attempting to formulate a plan that didn't involve techniques that he really shouldn't know at this time. Suddenly, the last person he thought he'd see out of the three other people on the training grounds appeared before him. Crouched on the branch in front of him was Sakura. She looked him straight in the eyes, a small fire burning behind her mint green eyes. She reminded him so much of the Sakura from his other's life; his Sakura, the one that had died trying to stall time for Naruto and himself.

"I-I think that we should work t-together," she told him with a small smile, bringing one to Sasuke's own lips. He couldn't help it. He could see just how nervous she was; the shaking of her hands, that unsure smile she gave him. Her strength was admirable to say the least.

"Exactly what I was thinking," Naruto said with a smirk, appearing on a branch above them.

"Heh, how was the swim?" Sasuke asked. Though it was weird how dry the blond looked.

"Not too bad," he laughed. "You two think you can distract him?"

"Yeah, why?" Sasuke asked, Sakura simply nodding.

"Well, you see…" Naruto responded with a mischievous grin, beginning to go over a plan with the two.

* * *

'Hmm, I wonder where those three went,' Kakashi pondered, glancing up from his book to see a completely empty field. Just as he was about to look back down to his book, a glint before him caught his eye. Quickly jumping to his right, he found a few shuriken lodged into the tree where he'd been standing.

"You'll have to do better than that!" he shouted.

"Then how about this?" Sasuke shouted from above him, just as a swarm of fireballs rained down towards the cyclops. Quickly replacing himself with a log, Kakashi found himself under the tree again, only for a poof of smoke to appear next to him, revealing Sakura and one fewer shuriken lodged into the tree.

'Shit!' was all that Kakashi was able to think before the girl's fist collided with his side, a bone-splitting crack resounding in the area as he was launched him through the air.

"S-Sorry!" she shouted to him, waving as Sasuke walked up next to her. Flipping in the air, Kakashi landed a fair distance away in a crouch.

'Man, she really packs a punch for someone so small,' Kakashi thought, rubbing the spot where he'd gotten hit. "That was pretty good, but you should've tried for something longer. You didn't even get close to getting the be-" Kakashi stopped as his hand waved over the spot he'd been keeping the bells, only to find them not there. "Eh?" Looking around, he saw none other than Naruto casually walking away from him, whistling while he tossed the two chiming bells into the air, mocking what Kakashi had done earlier. After a few more steps, Naruto stopped and turned to Kakashi, the same mischievous grin he had earlier planted on his face.

"See? Told you I'd get them," Naruto said, his grin never leaving his face.

"How did you…"

"It was easy, really," Naruto told him as the two other genin came to stand next to the blond. "Thanks for taking the bait."

"What bait?" Kakashi questioned.

Naruto simply dug into his weapons pouch. "The kunai," he answered, pulling out the weapon. "I really didn't plan on you actually taking it, but it all worked out, I guess." Seeing the puzzled look still present on Kakashi's… eye, Naruto continued. "In the beginning, I threw down that smoke bomb as a cover in order to create-" The blond crossed his fingers as two more 'Naruto's popped into existence. "Two shadow clones. Then I transformed into a kunai and had one of my clones wield me to get me close to you and bide my time, while my other one would go into the forest and wait for a moment to do something. So, when you supposedly umm… punted me into the river, you actually ended up picking me up and put me right next to the bells. All I had to do after that was wait for a distraction to come up and then it was easy pickings."

Kakashi's eye twitched like it had never twitched before. That plan was simply crazy! If nothing else, it had all depended on dumb-luck! If anything had gone wrong, then the plan would've never worked, but… it did. He looked at the three pre-teens; the nervous, the genius, and the lucky. Maybe, like the Hokage had said to him, they really did have potential that was unseen since Minato himself. Kakashi smiled at the thought. Dusting himself off as he stood up, he gave the three genin a thumbs-up. "Good job, you three. You pass!" The three genin celebrated as Kakashi simply watched on. Maybe being a sensei wouldn't be so bad afterall.

"Hey! Let's go out to eat! We'll celebrate the beginning of Team Seven!" Naruto suggested.

"Yeah, let's go," Sasuke concurred, followed by a nod from Sakura.

"Well, you three have fun with that," Kakashi told them, turning towards the trees, only to be stopped by someone holding onto his sleeve. Turning, he saw Sakura there, looking up at him.

"C-come," she struggled out in a tiny voice that was barely heard by the jounin. His eye widened a bit before becoming soft, smiling at the small girl. Lifting his hand, he softly patted the girl's head compassionately.

"Okay."

* * *

Inoichi sighed as he tended to his flowers. Just what kind of a mess did he get himself into? First, he'd been told to sweep Naruto's mind. Then, he found out Naruto had memories from some other version of himself from a different world. Now he even had to lie to the Hokage about it all. Worst of all… he found out that his little girl had married Naruto, which meant she'd… she'd… she'd slept with him! Inoichi shouted hysterically at the thought. His little girl…

"Dad, what're you shouting about?" Ino asked as she walked in through the doors of the shop, having heard her father's gibberish from down the street.

"Oh, hi, pumpkin," he greeted calmly upon seeing her.

"Pumpkin? Dad, what's wrong?" she questioned, walking up to him.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong," Inoichi responded quickly.

"Come on, Dad. You only ever call me pumpkin when something's wrong."

Inoichi chuckled. She was right, but… "Don't worry about it," he smiled, gaining a small pout from Ino.

"Fine," she sighed.

"So how did your test go?" he asked.

Ino walked over to the counter, hopping up onto the stool. "Fine, I guess… we passed," she told him with a smile.

"I knew you would!" Inoichi told her as he went to hug her. "I'm so proud of you! Go tell your mother, I'll watch the shop today." With that and a quick "Thanks," the girl was gone, leaving Inoichi to sit on the stool and think about the conversation that he had had with Naruto the day prior.

* * *

"Just who are you?" Inoichi asked. Looking at him, Naruto looked so much older than he was. His eyes reflected all those years that Inoichi had witnessed; all that death and loss.

Naruto simply gestured to the room of pictures around them. "You know who I am. You've seen it. Everything that I remember from that time; from that world. So you also know what you have to do."

Inoichi simply looked at Naruto. Tens of minutes likely went by without a single word; not a single noise cut through the silence. "How can I trust you?" he finally asked.

"You can't. You just have to believe me."

Inoichi stayed quiet as he thought the situation over. "Then swear on it," he said, his voice shaking as those images of his family's corpses littered his mind. "Swear on something that matters."

Naruto didn't think for a second before he looked Inoichi straight in the eyes and responded. "Ino."

Inoichi chuckled. "Ino, huh? Okay, but… if you do anything that could jeopardize my family's wellbeing and I mean anything, I will report this."

Naruto nodded at Inoichi's decision. "I know you will, but… believe me when I say this. I promise that I'll do everything that I can to keep Ino safe."

* * *

"So that's what happened, huh?" Sasuke asked from his spot on Naruto's bed.

"Yeah. So we kind of have Inoichi on our side for now," Naruto confirmed, lying on the bed, just behind Sasuke.

Sasuke sighed. "I guess it could've gone worse. How's your training been?"

"What training? I've only had one day to even try so far."

"That's true," Sasuke chuckled. "How's your control?"

"Pretty horrible. I doubt that I can even walk on water right now, much less create a Rasengan. It sucks," he complained. "How about you?"

"Well, I've had years to train, so I can use most of my more basic techniques, but my more advanced ones are just too draining for my current chakra reserves."

"How's your Sharingan?"

"I have the Mangekyou, but since I don't have Itachi's then it's still harmful to my eyesight."

"Then don't use it unless I tell you to."

"Yeah, yeah. As you wish, _Lord Hokage_ ," the Uchiha exaggerated, gaining a sigh from Naruto.

"Once an ass, always an ass," Naruto said, shaking his head.

"I learn from the best," Sasuke shot back.

"Yeah, I know. Kakashi's still the same," Naruto laughed, gaining a chuckle from Sasuke.

"He'll never change." The two continued to talk late into the night, exchanging stories to make up for the time their counterparts had lost with each other, genuinely enjoying the company of the other. After all, having seen the effects of war and conflict made them understand just how important these moments really were.

* * *

"Sasuke here at Point B." The creature's eyes darted around.

"S-Sakura here at P-Point C." It's ears perked up to listen for danger.

"Naruto here. I'm at Point A." The snap of a stick was heard as the creature flinched.

"Good. Team Seven, proceed to-" Kakashi said, just as the creature jumped from it's spot, dashing away from the three genins' positions. "The target is moving. Follow it!"

After a few seconds, the creature stopped once again to observe its surroundings as the three genin found spots for themselves, out of the creature's view. "Alright, there it is," Naruto said.

"What's your distance from the target?" Kakashi asked his team over their radios.

"Five meters. Ready at any time," Naruto answered.

"Same here," Sasuke said.

"M-me too," Sakura nearly squeaked.

"Okay… go!" Kakashi told them. The three immediately sprang into action, jumping at the target with Naruto reaching him first, a mischievous smile plastered on his face.

"Got him!" Naruto announced, holding the cat in front of him. He laughed at the struggling cat as he turned it to look at him and stared him dead in the eyes, channeling the tiniest amount of Kurama's chakra to turn his eyes feral for a second. The cat immediately stopped struggling, instead going completely limp as it was seemingly too afraid to do anything. A second later, Naruto felt the foot of Sasuke collide with his side.

Turning off his radio for a second, Sasuke leaned down to Naruto's ear. "Did you just scare it with the Kyuubi?" he whispered.

The boy simply laughed. "Yeah," he responded, thus earning another kick from Sasuke.

"Freaking dumbass," Sasuke muttered before turning his radio back on and turning away from his teammates.

"Does it have the red bow? Are you sure it's Tora?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, it's the target. No mistake," Sasuke confirmed.

"Alright, mission to capture the lost pet, Tora, is complete," Kakashi said. "Rendezvous back at the village gates."

"Roger that," Sasuke said, turning back to Naruto, only to see him hog-tying Tora onto a stick while Sakura stood to the side, not knowing what to do. Sasuke simply face-palmed himself. Even with all those memories, at his core, Naruto was and would forever be a dumbass. Walking over, Sasuke once again kicked Naruto, making sure it was the same spot so that it would bruise. "Give him to me."

Naruto pouted for a second before complying and handing the cat over. "Fine… killjoy."

Sasuke simply rolled his eyes as he cut the cat from its bindings and held it to his chest. The cat seemingly clinged onto him for dear life, afraid of what the blond would do if he were to get his hands on it again. "Dumbass," Sasuke said before jumping up to the trees, quickly followed by the other two as they made their way to the village gates.

After meeting up with Kakashi, the team turned the mission in, where Tora had actually willing gone back to his owner in fear of the blond that had scarred him for life. As the Third went over the various D-Rank missions that were available, Sasuke once again kicked Naruto, who had decided to sit down for some reason. Turning to his fellow… time-traveler? Dimension hopper? Umm… memory bender? Whatever they were… he raised his eyebrow at the Uchiha, only for the other to widen his eyes a bit to convey a message.

'Right…' Naruto thought. It had been a few weeks since they'd officially become Team Seven. If they were right, then if Naruto complained here and got them a C-Ranked mission, they'd be able to go to Wave again and possibly save Haku and Zabuza, of whom would likely be valuable assets in their future efforts.

"Come on, old man! We've taken enough D-Rank missions! Give us something challenging!" Naruto complained, just as they'd planned.

"You're new genin! D-Rank missions is all you can-" the Hokage began, only for an ANBU member to appear next to him and whisper in his ear before disappearing once more. The Third chuckled before looking back at the team. "Fine, you want a higher ranked mission? Team Ten just sent for backup on their mission to the Land of Waves." Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened a sliver at the news, which didn't go unnoticed by the Hokage. They'd been late… but that's not why Naruto was concerned. It was because it was Ino's team. He'd promised Inoichi that he'd keep her safe and he wasn't going to go back on his word. He wasn't going to let his wife get hurt if he could help it.

"Lord Hokage, I don't think that they're ready ye-" Iruka began, only to be cut off by all of the genin of Team Seven.

"We're ready!" they shouted, even Sakura. After all, this was her best friend that may be in danger. She may not be the most confident or skilled person, but that wouldn't stop her from protecting one of the most precious people to her.

Kakashi looked at his team. Seeing the Will of Fire burn so brightly behind those eyes, he couldn't help but chuckle. "We'll take the mission."

Sarutobi smirked. "Good. If you leave soon, you should be able to catch up to them before sundown. They only left a few hours ago and are traveling with a civilian, so they shouldn't be too far."

"Lord Hokage, you can't be serious," Iruka retorted.

"I'm completely serious," he responded. "I issue Team Seven the mission of aiding Team Ten's efforts in guarding Tazuna the bridge builder in the Land of Waves. You are to leave as soon as possible. Dismissed!" With that the four were out the door, dashing to get ready.

'If they take a B-Rank like this, I may just get the answers that I'm looking for,' Sarutobi thought, a smirk forming on his lips as Iruka simply looked at him, puzzled at the situation.

* * *

"Meet at the gates in fifteen minutes!" Kakashi shouted as Team Seven exited the building. Seeing those looks on their faces; all that determination, especially from Sakura of all people, excited him. Maybe this, no… _they_ could be his redemption. Not ten minutes later, Team Seven had already all arrived at the gates, each member toting their own bags of supplies.

"Heh, you're early, Kakashi-sensei. Why the change of pace?" Naruto asked as he stretched and cracked his knuckles.

"I guess I got caught up in your excitement," he admitted, scratching the back of his head. "Are you all ready to go?" The three genin quickly exchanged glances before smiling, responding in unison.

"Of course."

* * *

 **Alright! There's chapter four for you all! Wow, I'm surprised I actually worked on this for a few consecutive days (unlike my other chapters, haha)… But yeah, that's it… Team Seven has become Team Seven and Team Ten took the Tazuna mission first. Also, Sakura's becoming more confident! Maybe someday she'll even become like her canon-counterpart… naw, probably not, but still. We also haven't really seen any of them really fight (since I'm a horrible action writer, aha…), so who know, maybe you'll be surprised at what happens when they do… They'll fight, trust me… maybe, who knows. I don't plan things, they just happen. Also, review or something and tell me how you prefer techniques to be presented! I avoided using the name of Sasuke's ninjutsu earlier because I didn't really know which language I liked it in. So tell me, do you like the ninjutsus to be in English? Or do you like it in Japanese? Or do you perhaps you like it how I wrote it earlier, where the name isn't said by the characters at all? Well, that's enough of my rambling for now. I'll see you all next time!**


	5. Chapter 5 : The Demon in the Mist

**Hello again! Thanks for all the positivity everyone! I don't have anything to really say, so let's just go! The Many Worlds Theory chapter 5, let's go!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (Obviously.)**

* * *

The Many Worlds Theory

Chapter 5 - The Demon in the Mist

"How are you all holding up?" Kakashi asked, looking back at his team as they leaped across the trees. They'd been going for nearly three hours at speeds that normal genin would likely struggle to keep up at, but the three in question were doing surprisingly well.

"Heh, no sweat," Naruto responded with a grin, after all, he wasn't known for his stamina for nothing. This much was easy. If Sakura was be able to, he'd suggest that they speed up, but looking at the girl… that simply wasn't going to be an option.

"O-okay," Sakura replied. In reality, she was likely just running on steam at this point, but it didn't matter to her. All she wanted was to get to her best friend.

Sasuke simply smirked and nodded at Kakashi. Nodding in response, Kakashi turned back around, seeing the sun resting just over the horizon. If he was right, they would be catching up to Asuma's team within the hour, which was lucky. Sakura was definitely grasping at whatever bit of energy she had left, but he knew that she wouldn't let them slow down. If he'd learned anything about Sakura in the past month of being her sensei, it was that though she was quiet due to her social anxiety, she was also incredibly stubborn and strong. She'd been the one that suggested that they go at this speed and he wouldn't deny her that. After another half hour or so, they finally found who they were searching for; Team Ten.

"Asuma!" Kakashi called out as he and his team jumped down to them.

"Kakashi! What're you doing here?" the smoker asked, walking over to the cyclops.

"We were sent as your reinforcements."

"What?" That didn't make any sense. Other ninjas were involved, which would bump this C-Rank up to at least a B. Why would the Hokage, no… why would his father send a genin team? This didn't sit right with him. He'd make sure to have a chat with him when they went back.

"We're your reinforcements," Sasuke repeated, glancing over to his fellow genin. Why did they have to get involved in this?

"Another bunch of brats? Like we didn't already have enough," Tazuna groaned.

"We'll stay here for the night, go set camp over there," Asuma told the genin, ignoring Tazuna's complaints. Complying, the six genin walked into the forest to setup.

"So what happened?" Kakashi asked Asuma once they were alone.

"We were assaulted by the Demon Brothers… They were aiming for Tazuna." Kakashi's eye widened at the information.

"The Demon Brothers? Why didn't you and your team turn back? This must be at least a B-Rank mission now."

"I know, but…" he looked over to his team as they made a fire. "They didn't want to and I guess I didn't want to disappoint them." Asuma laughed. "You know, Shikamaru's just like his old man. He's as equally brilliant as he is lazy, but… he can really say some good things." Kakashi raised his eyebrow, looking at the Sarutobi take a drag from his cigarette.

"What did he say?"

Asuma chuckled. "He said that it doesn't matter if we've been deceived or lied to. It doesn't even matter that they're just genin. They're still ninjas and they'll finish what they started. How could I say no to that, you know?"

"I suppose you're right," Kakashi laughed. "I guess that's how I ended up here too." He looked over at his own team as they sat around the fire, talking to their fellow genin. "I couldn't say no to them… They really are incredible, this generation. They took the bells from me, you know? I gave them the bell test that Minato-sensei taught me and they actually got them."

"So after three years of continuously failing teams, you finally found one, huh?"

"Yeah," Kakashi responded, a soft smile hidden beneath his mask.

* * *

He felt a tap on the shoulder as he opened his eyes to look back at Sasuke.

"My watch?" Naruto yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Yeah, wake up Ino in an hour," Sasuke responded as he went to go sleep. Naruto sighed, sitting up and walking over to the fire, setting another log into it as he looked over to Ino's sleeping form. Why did this all have to happen? Why did she, of all people, have to get involved?

It was weird. After a month of thinking it over, he still didn't know. Was he the twelve year old boy that he'd been all this time or was he the eighteen year old warrior who had fought for the world? He simply didn't understand.

It was like he was both but neither at the same time. His life until that fateful night was a blur. Memories from him and his other selves life meshed together indistinguishably. He couldn't even tell which one was the one that he'd lived. Every day that passed by meshing into an already present memory. How did Sasuke do this when he was only seven?

"Hey, Sasuke, are you still awake?" Naruto whispered.

"Yeah," he grumbled out.

"Do you always remember?"

Sasuke was silent. "Not always," he responded after a few seconds, shifting a bit. "At first, yeah, but… over time, then you learn to just… let go. Eventually, it becomes something like a room; separate… not always open."

Silence filled the area; the soft crackle of the fire was all that could be heard as Naruto listened to Sasuke's breathing even out, just like the others. He had a lot to think about. What would he do if they met Zabuza and Haku? Who was Ino to him now? Who was he? Only time could tell, he supposed.

* * *

"Damn it! Why didn't you tell me that you got poisoned?" Kakashi shouted, staring at Asuma. The man in question had become rather pale during the last stretch of their journey and was currently leaned up against a tree, his body too weak to keep going.

"I thought that I'd drained it all," he chuckled. Grabbing the man's arm, Kakashi pushed his sleeve up to see the small gash, light blue veins visible around the wound.

"Shit!" Kakashi cursed quietly, trying to think of a way to help the man.

"Sakura!" Ino shouted from her spot next to her sensei.

"On it!" Sakura responded confidently as she took off her bag, digging into it.

"What's she doing?" Choji asked, watching as the girl pulled out a few scrolls.

"Helping," she responded, not even a hint of her usual stutter in her voice as she ran over to Asuma and unraveled her scrolls while Ino walked over to the group of genin.

"You guys never really paid attention to her so you wouldn't know, but I do," Ino said. "She's always been pretty shy around others and in the Academy, she was always overshadowed by Sasuke, but..." Sakura unsealed a water basin and a few vials of liquid. "There are only three times when she isn't affected by her social anxiety. When she's talking to her family, when she's talking to me, and lastly..." Sakura stuck her hands into the water she'd filled the basin with as they began to glow with bright green chakra. "When she's treating a patient."

"Medical ninjutsu?" Kakashi questioned, his eye widening in surprise.

"Yeah," Ino confirmed, watching as her best friend began treating her sensei. "Sakura's nothing short of a genius when it comes to theory and techniques requiring precise chakra control. She's not only completely self-taught, she's likely one of the youngest medical ninjas in history."

"Self-taught?" Shikamaru asked. He remembered hearing about just how difficult medical ninjutsu was, how even the slightest fluctuation in chakra could cause it to fail in some circumstances. To be self-taught was incredible to say the least.

"Yeah... her mother was a medic-nin." Ino smiled sadly at the statement.

"Was?" Naruto asked. This was completely different compared to his memories.

"She died when Sakura was still just a toddler," Kakashi answered. "She was one of the best, all the way up there in medical expertise with Tsunade of the Sannin."

"Whoa," Sasuke muttered in disbelief. Was this really the same girl? The nervous, stuttering Sakura that he'd spent the past month with? Looking at her now, he couldn't help but see her other self there too, guiding the young girl's actions. It brought a small smile to his face. Even in this world, she was still the girl that he'd fallen for.

"Done," Sakura said, filling an empty vial with a dark purple liquid. "I've extracted most of the poison, but I'll have to wait until we get to Wave before I can create an antidote. Until then-" Sakura handed Asuma a different vial that was filled with some sort of green substance. "Drink this. It'll stimulate your body's natural defenses to slow the effects of the poison until I can treat it properly." With that, Sakura resealed everything and turned around to see everyone staring at her. "W-What?"

There's the Sakura that they knew. "Good job, Sakura," Kakashi told her, patting her head.

"T-Thank you," she responded, avoiding eye contact with everyone as she stuck her scrolls back into her bag.

"Thank you, Sakura," Asuma said from his spot.

Sakura stopped for a second before turning back to him, a small smile on her slightly red face. "You're welcome."

"Well, let's get going now," Kakashi said as he went and crouched in front of Asuma.

Asuma didn't move. He simply stared at Kakashi's implication for him to get on his back for a few seconds. "Do I have to?"

Both men simply looked over to the small medic to see her nod. It wouldn't be good to have Asuma move and spread the poison more. With a sigh, Asuma begrudgingly climbed onto Kakashi's back, much to the amusement of both men's teams. To see Asuma essentially getting a piggy-back ride from Kakashi was simply a weird sight, no matter the situation.

* * *

"We're almost there," Tazuna told them as they walked down a small path. After their boat ride onto the island… well, it was a boat ride for Team Ten at least, Team Seven had to walk beside them since there was a lack of room on the small boat, but that was beside the point. As they walked along, Naruto felt a tug in him that was all too familiar at this point. Instantly turning to his side, he threw a kunai into a bush, stopping everyone in their tracks.

"What're you doing, Naruto?" Choji asked.

"I, uh... thought I felt something," he responded, pushing the bush aside to reveal a frightened white rabbit. It wasn't a complete lie. He did feel something, it just wasn't the rabbit. It was his body reacting to a memory.

"A snow rabbit," Shikamaru said. Why was its fur white? It should've been brown at this point in the year. Looking at the two jounin, he guessed that they were thinking something along the same lines as him. Though he couldn't help but laugh at the image of Asuma riding on Kakashi's back while they attempted to formulate an idea on why that rabbit was there. It was simply ridiculous.

"Aww, poor little rabbit," Ino cooed, walking over and picking it up, bringing it over to Sakura, where they both began petting it.

"So what're we gonna do about Zabuza?" Sasuke whispered to Naruto, taking advantage of everyone's attention being drawn to the rabbit.

"We'll figure it out as we go," he whispered back. It wasn't like they could just tell him what was going to happen to him and ask him to join them. They'd just have to go with the flow and hope that things would work out for the best in order to not expose themselves.

"I suppose," Sasuke sighed as they began walking again, soon arriving at the shore where Zabuza had once attacked them.

"Alright, there should be a boat somewhere around here for us to take across," Tazuna said, looking around.

"Tazuna, get back over here," Kakashi told the old man lowly.

"What? Why?" he asked, only to be pulled back by Sasuke just as a few kunai struck the ground where he'd been standing.

"Protect Tazuna!" Naruto shouted, jumping in front of the old man with a kunai, while the other genin followed suit. Setting Asuma down next to Tazuna, Kakashi pulled out his own kunai before standing in front of the teams. Everyone was still as they listened for the slightest of sounds, allthewhile, a heavy fog began to roll into the area. Suddenly, a faint whooshing sound could be heard in the distance.

"Get down!" Kakashi shouted, ducking as an enormous cleaver-like blade came flying towards them. Time seemed to slow as adrenaline began to pump in Naruto's body. Tackling Ino down, Naruto looked to see Sasuke doing the same for Sakura, but Tazuna… he was going to be too slow. Shikamaru and Choji just weren't in the right positions to be able to help him even if they wanted to and Asuma couldn't do anything in his condition. Was he going to fail already? Did he just exchange Tazuna's life for Ino's safety?

No. No, he wasn't going to. He didn't care if he brought up questions or if he may compromise Sasuke and himself. His other self gave him these memories to help him; to ensure a brighter future where no one had to die. He wasn't going to fail now!

Kurama's chakra flowed through Naruto as his arm became engulfed in a red veil. He felt as his body moved on it's own, reaching for the giant blade and stopping it in its tracks. Looking back at the others, he found them staring at him incredulously as he tossed the blade onto the ground.

He couldn't believe what Naruto had just done. Sasuke had watched as Naruto channeled the Kyuubi's chakra in order to stop the enormous blade, while he was completely helpless to do anything. He didn't want to blow their cover and so he did nothing, but Naruto… he didn't even hesitate to save the old man. He couldn't help but feel envious once more. Why couldn't he be recklessly brave like the blond boy? Was this what had always separated them?

"Naruto," Kakashi whispered as he saw the red chakra. Something was off about it. All those years ago when the Kyuubi attacked, its chakra was different. It held so much malice and hatred, but now, it simply exuded power. It was simple and elegant as it wrapped around Naruto's arm like a gauntlet.

'What is this?' Naruto thought as he looked down at his arm. This chakra was different than it had been in his memories. Sure, he hadn't been able to experiment with the chakra very much in the past month, but this was just so different. If he had to say, it seemed like it was nearly solid.

"Hmm, aren't you interesting?" a voice questioned. Without looking, Naruto already knew who it was. Turning to a tree branch, he saw Zabuza standing there.

"Zabuza; the Demon of the Hidden Mist," Kakashi said, looking up to the bandaged man, just barely seeing him through the mist. He would have to question Naruto later about what he'd just done, but for now, dealing with the Missing-Nin was more important.

"Both Copy Ninja Kakashi and Asuma of the Twelve Guardian Ninja. It's an honor to meet such prestigious shinobi here," he responded sarcastically. "But it looks like one of you isn't quite up for a fight. Shame." He instantly disappeared from his spot, reappearing next to Naruto. "I'll be taking this back now," he said as he grabbed the enormous cleaver and jumped away, fading into the mist.

"You all protect Tazuna and Asuma. I'll take care of Zabuza," Kakashi told them.

"No," Naruto retorted, turning Kakashi's attention onto him.

"Zabuza's a master at Silent Killing," Sasuke said. "He could take out Tazuna at any moment. You're needed to defend him, Kakashi-sensei." With Naruto already using Kurama's chakra, there was no point in trying to keep everything under wraps anymore. Luckily, at least with Zabuza's fog, then the other genin wouldn't witness what was about to transpire on that shore.

"You two aren't seriously thinking about-" Kakashi began.

"Yes. Yes we are," Naruto replied as he began walking away from the group and towards the location of Zabuza. It was weird… for some reason, he could sense the negative emotions in the swordsman, just like his other self had been able to in his Kyuubi Chakra Mode. Perhaps things were more different in this world than he'd initially thought.

Following his lead, Sasuke began walking after Naruto, only for Kakashi to grab his wrist. Turning to see the distress in the jounin's eye, Sasuke let a small smirk creep onto his face. "Don't worry. Zabuza isn't the only demon in the mist now," he said, jerking his hand out of the cyclops' grip. Adjusting his position so that only Kakashi would be able to see, he activated his Sharingan before disappearing into the mist.

Kakashi could only stand there gawking. Just what had happened to those two? Sure, for the past month, something always felt a little off about them, but this was on an entirely different level. Those two weren't the fresh genin that he'd been training. They held the auras of battle-hardened veterans. They were warriors.

* * *

"Just how did you two beat him?" Kakashi asked from his position next to his two male students. The group had arrived at Tazuna's earlier in the day and the three were now sitting on the roof of the house, while the others all slept for the night.

Neither of the boys responded. Instead, they both simply looked at each other; exchanging words through their gazes. They were at a standstill. On one hand, if they told Kakashi what they knew, then he may be able to help them, but on the other hand, it could possibly have negative ramifications on the future. Just what should they do? There were pros and cons to both.

Sasuke sighed after a while and hung his head. "It's your decision," he told Naruto. "Do what you think is best."

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. "He's already seen too much. We might as well just tell him," he replied, turning to Kakashi. "You're gonna want to get comfortable."

* * *

 **Alright, that's the end of the chapter. Sorry that this chapter took longer than usual, it's just that I wrote the second half so many times because I couldn't figure out how I wanted it to go. I wrote the action scene between Naruto, Sasuke, and Zabuza at least six or seven times, but it just wasn't good at any point since I'm not an action writer. So, I've made a pretty bold decision that I'm not going to write action sequences unless I deem it to be a very important scene. I will likely do small flashbacks and such to many action sequences that I initially skip simply to show bits and pieces that will affect the story, but other than that, the fighting will be pretty limited. Sorry if you wanted to read the action parts. It's just that I'm simply not good at them. Well, until next time, everyone.**


	6. Chapter 6 : A Walk in the Moonlight

**Alright! First, before the chapter, I must inform you all about my updates. I'm going to be becoming very inconsistent after August 20th, as I'll be moving into my dorm that day and starting my first year of college the following week. Thus, I'll likely go from about one chapter week or so to probably only one every month. Now that you know that, I'll get onto the story.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (Obviously.)**

* * *

The Many Worlds Theory

Chapter 6 - A Walk in the Moonlight

"So you're saying that you're from another world?" Kakashi asked, confused by what his students had just told him.

Sasuke thought for a second before replying, "Not exactly. We have _memories_ from another world, but we're still who we've been for the past twelve years."

Kakashi was certainly confused at this revelation. It certainly did explain how they were able to fight and beat Zabuza, but… it was just so strange. Sure, there were Space-Time techniques out there, like his sensei's Hiraishin and summoning techniques, and he supposed that something along those lines may have been able to send things back in time, but… this wasn't just time travel. If what they told him was true, then their memories had crossed entire dimensions! How was he supposed to wrap his head around that?

"Look, we don't need you to understand it all right now," Naruto told him. "We just need you to know that we can take care of ourselves. If we do anything that you don't understand, just keep the others safe."

"But why should I trust you?"

"As I told Inoichi," Naruto began. "You can't. You just have to believe us."

"Inoichi knows?" Kakashi furrowed his brows.

"Yeah. He swept my mind about a month ago."

Kakashi was silent as he thought about all the information that the boys had dropped on him in the past couple hours. "Fine. I believe you." A small smile graced Naruto and Sasuke's lips. "But… you have to swear on it. Swear on something that matters," he said, unknowingly repeating Inoichi's words.

Just like he had for the Yamanaka, Naruto didn't let a single moment go by before looking Kakashi straight in the eye and responding, "I swear on the graves of my parents; on the legacy of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina."

* * *

Ino yawned as she walked around the house. They'd arrived at Tazuna's house earlier in the day and had all turned in for the night a few hours ago, but she couldn't sleep. For some reason she just felt so restless. Maybe it was because this was her first time in a different village? She couldn't figure it out. Maybe a quick walk was what she needed. Deciding that that would be a good idea, she slipped on her shoes before silently making her way out of the house.

Looking up, she realized how beautiful of a night it was; the crescent moon glowed softly off of the water below, the stars shined brighter than she'd ever seen them in her village and the hushed voices above her cut through the silence. Wait… that wasn't right. Turning a bit to her left, she saw the three male members of Team Seven talking on the roof. Seeing the looks on their faces, she could tell how serious it was.

'What are they talking about?' she mused. She knew that she really shouldn't, but she couldn't help it. Slowly inching closer beneath the overhang of the roof to keep out of sight, she listened in on the conversation.

"I swear on the graves of my parents; on the legacy of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina," she heard Naruto say.

Kakashi chuckled. She heard him say something, but she just couldn't make it out. Inching just a bit closer in an attempt to hear, she failed to notice the bucket next to her. It clanged against her foot as it fell over, prompting her to freeze, hoping that no one heard it.

"What're you doing up, Ino?" she heard Naruto ask from behind her.

Turning to him slowly as her cheeks began to flush. Looking down, she answered, "I uhh… couldn't sleep. So I decided to take a walk. What're you doing up?"

He smiled gently as he watched her attempt to avoid his gaze. "I couldn't sleep either," he answered. "Can I come with you? It's a beautiful night."

Looking up, she noticed his piercing azure eyes staring into her own. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks as she attempted to break the connection. Turning away just the slightest, she replied, "Yeah, sure. I don't see why not."

"Great." He smiled. "Why don't we get going, then?" Grabbing her hand, he began to lead her towards the forest that he'd remembered his other self having learned to climb trees in. Quickly glancing behind him, he saw a grin on Sasuke's face as Kakashi gave him a thumbs up. Shaking his head just the slightest, Naruto slowed his pace to walk beside Ino.

"So how's your team been?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, horrible. Just dreadful, really," she joked, eliciting a laugh from the blond boy. "But in all honesty, it's been a lot of fun. It's hard work, but I love it. Shikamaru and Choji are some of my oldest friends, after all."

"You grew up together, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Our clans are really close, so we all met when we were toddlers. How about you? How's your team?"

"Oh, they're great," he chuckled. "Sasuke and Sakura have been getting pretty close too."

"What? I haven't heard anything about this from Sakura," Ino replied, bringing a grin to Naruto's face.

"Well, you see…"

As the two walked towards the forest, they continued to talk about their teams and experiences thus far. Ino didn't know why, but it was so easy for her to talk to Naruto. They'd barely spoken to each other while in the academy, but… he just seemed to exhume a certain air around himself. It was warm and comforting, like you could tell him anything you wanted and not be afraid of judgement. It'd always been there. She just didn't realize it until now. Thinking about it, it was strange that someone like this could be so powerful.

* * *

The clang of metal against metal cut through the occasional grunts that resounded from the fog. It had to have been at least half an hour since Naruto and Sasuke had left to fight Zabuza. Ino didn't understand why they were fighting. From what Kakashi had told them, Zabuza was a jounin-level missing-nin. So why did he let the two boys go out to fight instead of him?

Sakura had tried to go out to help her teammates but Kakashi just held her back. What separated Sakura so much from Naruto and Sasuke that her sensei wouldn't let her go assist? Wasn't this what they'd been training for? She should have been out there helping them. No… Kakashi should have been the one out there in the first place, not them. Sakura didn't care what Kakashi said, she had to go out there and help. If he was distracted for just a second, maybe she could go.

"Sakura's right, shouldn't we be helping them?" Ino asked.

Kakashi turned to the girl and replied, "No."

This was her chance! If she went now, she just might be able to make it! Just as Sakura took a single step though, she saw a bright blue orb cut through the fog, creating three rough silhouettes. She watched as the orb contacted the tallest silhouette, sending him flying as the fog slowly dissipated, revealing Naruto and Sasuke standing on the water. Various cuts and bruises could be seen scattered across their bodies as they slowly made their way to the group, Sasuke supporting Naruto as they walked. Turning to where Zabuza had flew, they saw the man just as equally bruised and battered as he lied unconscious at the base of a tree.

"Sakura, take care of those two," Kakashi said as he went over to Zabuza. Just as he was about to reach him, another person appeared at Zabuza's side. Kakashi eyed them down, recognizing the uniform as a Kiri Hunter-nin.

"Thank you for you help. I'll take him from here," the masked ninja said as they disappeared with the body of Zabuza.

* * *

Naruto smiled as he watched Ino talk about her time working at her family's shop. It was interesting, really. He loved gardening, but he was never able to get his hands on many plants. Plus, with having to go on missions and training nowadays, he never found himself to really have the time.

" - and then this one time, Dad wasn't paying attention and accidentally cut off the entire stems of some of the roses!" Ino laughed. "He lectured me about doing that and then did it himself like, a week later!"

Naruto chuckled. "Maybe I should come learn some stuff from you guys sometime."

"Why would you want to do that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I just find flowers and gardening pretty interesting. I have a few plants at home, but they're not as nice as your family's."

That was certainly new to Ino. "You like gardening?"

"Yeah, I know right? You wouldn't expect it," Naruto laughed. "But yeah, I find it really relaxing." Continuing to talk about the subject, the two found themselves arriving at the edge of the forest, the moon shining down from high above them.

"Wanna see something really cool?" Naruto asked, a large grin on his face.

Ino laughed. "Sure." Grabbing her hand, Naruto pulled Ino close to him. "W-what're you doing?"

"You'll see," he chuckled as he lifted her up into his arms. "Hold on tight and close your eyes."

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Ino couldn't help but blush a bit at their close proximities as Naruto began to run. Dashing towards a nearby tree, Naruto jumped up and began to run to the top branches. Having closed her eyes, Ino saw nothing, instead, only feeling the rush of wind as she was pushed against Naruto all-the-more. Then, it stopped as she felt Naruto's grip loosen just the slightest. Setting her down to stand on the branch he stood on, he steadied her up next to the trunk.

"Open your eyes," Naruto told her after he was sure that she was steady..

"Wow," Ino whispered when she opened her eyes.

It was beautiful. The village glowed with an almost ethereal light under the soft moonlight. Reflecting off the surface of the water around it, the mirror image looked like a second village; a dark and mystical realm.

"It's beautiful," Ino said, a smile upon her face.

Turning to look at Ino, Naruto found his eyes soften as the image of her older self lying across from him reappeared in his mind for the first time in weeks. "Yeah, it is."

* * *

"H-has anyone seen Ino?" Sakura asked. It was morning now and for some reason, when she'd gotten up, she found Ino's bedroll empty.

"No. She wasn't in bed when I got up," Shikamaru replied from his position on the floor.

"Huh…" Not a minute later, they heard the door open downstairs. Walking over to look down the stairs, Sakura saw Naruto walking in with Ino on his back. Just as she was about to say something, Naruto saw her and put his finger to his lips.

"She's asleep," Naruto mouthed to Sakura. Nodding to confirm that she understood what he was telling her, Sakura went back into their room to fix Ino's bedroll as Naruto walked up the stairs.

Shikamaru watched curiously as Naruto came up the stairs with a sleeping Ino and set her down. This was certainly peculiar to say the least. When had the two become so close? While he pondered this thought though, Naruto was signaling for them to follow him. Complying, Sakura and Shikamaru walked down the stairs with him, seeing Choji standing beside the front door.

"Come along," Naruto said, exiting the house.

"Where are we going?" Choji asked.

"The forest. Asuma said that you guys haven't learned Chakra Adhesion yet, so Sakura's going to teach you."

"M-me?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah. You're the best when it comes to chakra control and theory, after all."

"O-okay…"

Naruto stopped as the forest came into view. "Well, you guys can go ahead and get started. I'll head back and wait for Ino to wake up. If you guys learn how to do it, then Sakura will teach you to walk on water." Looking at Sakura, he smiled. "Don't worry. You'll be fine, Sasuke's already over there."

Nodding, Sakura began to walk to the forest, followed by Shikamaru and Choji. Turning away, Naruto headed back to the house. As he opened the door, he spotted an all-too-familiar fishing hat. It was actually kind of strange that they hadn't met the day prior, really.

"Who are you?" Inari asked, as Naruto walked in. Noticing Naruto, Tsunami walked over from the kitchen.

"He's one of the ninja that your grandfather hired. He's here to help," she answered.

"Tch, not like they'll be able to do anything against Gato," Inari muttered, pausing. "There are no heroes." Naruto simply looked at him, almost pityingly. He knew Inari's past from his memories. It certainly wasn't easy for a child to grow up with a life like his. "What?" Inari asked, seeing the look on Naruto's face.

"I'm sorry," he told the young boy, confusing both of Tazuna's family members.

"What are you sorry for?"

"I'm sorry that that's how you see the world," Naruto said, turning and walking up the stairs. After a few steps, he stopped to look at Inari and told him, "If there are no heroes, become one." Turning away once more, Naruto walked up and into the room that Ino was in, sitting down beside her.

As he sat there, he couldn't help but stare at her. He noted every time she moved and every strand of hair that shifted as a result. She really was beautiful in every sense of the word. He'd never paid her any mind while they were in the academy so why did he now? Was it just because his other self had married her?

He didn't know. He was so confused on what she was to him. Were these his own feelings or were these simply the remnants of his other self? He supposed he should talk about this with Sasuke later, but for now, he needed to decide on his future actions.

* * *

 **Well, that's the sixth chapter. Sorry about my updating. I'll try to release another chapter next week before I go off to school but I've been pretty busy, so that may or may not happen. See you next time!**


	7. Chapter 7 : The Broken Demon

**Alright, I'm back! For now… Anywho, sorry that it's been a while, but with balancing school, a social life, and getting sick a lot, it's hard to write. I don't know how long this chapter will be, but it'll likely be quite short, as I've pretty much forgotten what I'd planned for this chapter. I'll try my best to update more frequently, but I won't be making any promises! Anyways, onto the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (Obviously.)**

* * *

The Many Worlds Theory

Chapter 7 - The Broken Demon

It'd been a few days since they'd arrived at the Land of Waves and after an entire day of training, the three members of Team Ten had learned basic Chakra Adhesion. While Ino and Shikamaru, like Sakura, had picked it up straight away, Choji had a harder time.

He simply didn't have the finely-tuned chakra control of Ino or the methodical mind of Shikamaru. When asked if he wanted any tips, he would simply refuse, stating that he wished to figure it out on his own. Training late into the night to catch up to his teammates, he finally figured it out in the dead of night before returning to Tazuna's household.

Naruto smiled from his spot on the roof of Tazuna's home as he watched Choji enter, exhausted and covered in dirt and grime. Choji really did remind Naruto of himself. As he pondered the thought, he didn't notice how much time had gone by as Choji climbed out of the window and sat down next to him.

"Hey," Choji greeted, as he began to lay onto his back.

"Hey," Naruto responded, glancing over to the boy. Noticing his damp hair, Naruto figured that he must have just gotten done bathing.

"What are you still doing up?"

"Just looking at the stars. I can't really sleep."

The two were silent for a few moments before Choji asked, "How'd you do it?"

"Do what?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Become so much stronger in barely a month," the Akimichi asked. "You were the deadlast in our class… and now… you're able to fight against a jounin. No offense, but… I just thought that you were like me."

"What do you mean 'like you'?"

"Untalented," Choji simply responded. "Shikamaru, Ino, Sasuke and Sakura… they're all talented… they're geniuses. I just thought that you were different… like me."

Naruto sat up, looking over to Choji with his brows furrowed. "Choji. I think you're misunderstanding something."

"And what's that?"

"You're talented too. In fact, I'd say that you're more talented than anyone else here." Seeing Choji raise an eyebrow questioningly, Naruto elaborated. "You're a hard worker. That's a talent that exceeds everything else. Being a genius is great and all, but being a hard worker beats being a genius any day. You can have all of the natural-born talent in the world, but if you don't work hard, you'll never get anywhere. You don't have to sell yourself short." Getting up, Naruto gave a reassuring smile before going back inside. "Chin up. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."

"Good night," Choji replied, looking at the stars as he began to ponder what Naruto had just told him, only to realize that Naruto had completely avoided his question. 'I guess it'll just be another mystery,' he thought as his eyelids began to droop little by little before finally closing.

* * *

Choji sneezed loudly before beginning to sniffle. "And that's why you don't sleep outside with only a t-shirt and shorts," Ino told him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Choji dismissed as he walked out of the house, heading to the forest.

Ino sighed. "Seriously… why can't he just take care of himself? Why was he even out there, anyways?" she pondered aloud.

"Sorry, that was my fault," Naruto answered, nervously scratching the back of his head. "He came out to talk to me last night and I guess he fell asleep after I came back in. I should've noticed."

Ino simply raised an eyebrow but ultimately just sighed once more. "It's okay, he-" she began, only to be interrupted by a loud knocking on the door next to her.

"Did he forget something?" Naruto wondered.

"Probably," Ino sighed. "What'd you forget?" she asked as she opened the door, only to reveal a bloodied Zabuza kneeling before them; a sickly Haku lying in his arms. Ino gasped at the sight, frozen.

"Please, help him," he begged as his voice cracked, tears running down his face.

Not wasting a moment, Naruto ran over as he took Haku from Zabuza, carrying him over to a small sofa and placing him down. "Ino, go get Sakura!"

She didn't move; not a single muscle twitched.

"Ino!" Naruto shouted again, shaking her from her shocked state.

"O-on it," she said, running out of the house and towards the forest.

"What happened?" Naruto asked Zabuza as he began to examine Haku. This was completely different from his memories.

"Gato betrayed us… he gassed Haku with poison and ordered his men to kill me while I was still weak. I was able to get us out, but Haku, he…" his voice cracked as he thought about what had happened to the one that he'd raised. Walking over to Naruto, Zabuza lowered himself to the ground as he begged, "Please, save Haku. I don't care what you do to me, just… save him."

Naruto didn't know how to react. There, prostrating before him, was none other than the Demon of the Hidden Mist; a man known to have ruthlessly killed masses of people without hesitation was now begging for help. Sure, he had wanted to get their help and hoped that they would survive, but… this turn of events was just so different compared to what had happened in the other world. Naruto couldn't help but be thankful that Tsunami and Inari had left the house before this happened. He couldn't imagine how this would have gone if they'd been present.

"Raise your head. Our medic-nin should be here soon. Are you injured?" Naruto asked after confirming that Haku was still alive.

"Just a few scrapes and bruises," Zabuza replied slowly, lifting himself off of the floor to kneel by Haku. "Will your medic be able to help him?"

"Yes. From what I can tell, the poison's fairly powerful, but is slow-acting. She should be able to save him." Naruto simply watched as Zabuza cared for Haku, holding the androgynous boy's hand as his face contracted in pain. "Why come to us?" Naruto asked.

Zabuza looked down at Haku as he answered, "Because you were the only chance that I had to save Haku."

"Even though we're your enemy?"

"Yes," Zabuza replied without hesitation.

"You truly care for him, don't you?"

"Yes," Zabuza told the blond. "He's like my own son. When I met him… it was like the world was giving me another chance."

"Another chance at wha-"

"What happened?" Sasuke asked as he, Ino and Sakura ran into the house.

"The boy's been poisoned. Sakura, please, help him," Naruto told the medic-nin.

Nodding, Sakura ran upstairs before coming back down with her scrolls and performing the same procedure she'd used to treat Asuma. Taking some of the poison and placing it into a vial, Sakura got up.

"He should be fine for now. I just need to create an anti-poison for him and he should make a full recovery."

"Thank you," Zabuza told her, the bandages that once wrapped his face now hanging loosely around his neck.

"You're welcome," she responded with a small smile. "Ino, I need to gather a few ingredients. Can you help me?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, of course," Ino replied, following the medic outside.

Watching as the two girls left, Sasuke turned back to Naruto as Zabuza stayed next to Haku. "What now?" he asked.

"I don't know," Naruto responded. "But we have to let Kakashi and Asuma know about this before they come back."

"Yeah. I'll go tell them. You should stay here with them."

"Yeah, but afterwards…"

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, I know," he said as he left the house.

"Why do you trust me enough to do this?" Zabuza asked.

"To do what?"

"Help me."

Naruto was silent for a moment. "I knew someone like you before."

"And he died?"

"Yeah… while avenging his… child."

"Sounds like something I'd do," Zabuza laughed.

"Earlier, you were saying that meeting Haku was like another chance. What did you mean?"

Zabuza let out what seemed like a sad chuckle as he began speaking. "I had a girlfriend once." Seeing that Naruto raised an eyebrow at this, he elaborated. "It was when I was about eighteen. We met during one of my missions. I was supposed to take out a bandit group that was occupying a small town. Simple job. In and out, but… when I got there, I found that the group was just a small part of a much larger organization that had been working against the Hidden Mist. So I was ordered to stay in town for longer and find out what I could. During that time, I met her… Kana." His voice broke at her name as he recalled the memories that he'd tried to bury.

"She was the daughter of the innkeeper for the hotel that I was staying at. She just brought out an entirely different part of me; a part that I didn't know I had… I was stationed there for a month before I was told to take out the group and during that time…"

"You fell in love," Naruto said.

"Yes, but I had to return to my village and so I left. A couple months went by before I received a message from her saying that she was…" Zabuza placed a hand over his mouth as tears began to trickle down from the corners of his eyes. "She was pregnant." With ragged breathing, he continued his story. "I was so happy. I considered just leaving the village then and there, but then…"

"Then what?"

"The town was attacked. The organization that the group was a part of destroyed the town while trying to find the one responsible for the deaths of the bandits. By the time that I'd heard and gotten there, everything was destroyed and Kana had died with our unborn child."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Naruto said, unsure of what else to say. This was something that he had never expected to hear. The Demon of the Hidden Mist really was just another person. No matter how feared and renowned he was as a demon, he was just another human who had been broken by loss and grief. Life could disappear in the blink of an eye and thus he had to do everything that he could to protect it.

* * *

"So why did you defect from Kiri?" Kakashi asked from his position across the table from Zabuza. When he was informed of Zabuza's presence at Tazuna's household, he immediately made his way back with Sasuke, while Asuma kept watch of the bridge.

"Why do you want to know?" Zabuza asked.

"Just curious. I'd heard that you staged a coup because the Mizukage is supposedly being controlled."

"Where did you hear that?"

"It's just a rumor," Kakashi responded. "Any truth to it?"

"Yes. There is," Zabuza said, looking down at his hands on the table. "From what I could tell, the Mizukage isn't acting of his own accord."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I first met him when I was a child, before the incident that coined my nickname. He was nothing like his is now. He seemed so drained at the time, but… he was kind. He was so bright and cheerful, but then he suddenly changed; like he became an entirely different person. I just don't believe that that could happen. So, after finding more people with the same idea, I staged a coup. You know the rest."

"Interesting," Kakashi thought aloud. This was definitely something to look into further, but he would have to wait until after the mission was over with before he could investigate. The Hokage would likely find this story fascinating, but of course, what information could his students have on this subject? He'd simply have to find out.

* * *

 **Welp, like I said, a short chapter. Not much here, but hopefully you'll forgive me for that… Please? Well, I'll try and update more, but again, no promises. Anywho, yeah… Zabuza's past is different and we see that he's gone through a lot, but there may be even more to come for him… or maybe not, who knows. We'll see eventually. Anyways, until next time! See you!**


	8. Chapter 8 : Never Us

**Welp, here's the newest (and last…) chapter! It's been awhile since I've written anything, so… sorry if the chapter's not that great… I'd originally planned to write more than this, but I just haven't had much motivation and I've been working on some other projects lately, so I'm sorry to say that this will be the final chapter. Other than that, I don't really have anything else to say about this chapter, so let's just get on with it.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (Obviously.)**

* * *

The Many Worlds Theory

Chapter 8 - Never Us

Ducking beneath the swing of a blade, Naruto quickly rose with an uppercut; knocking the bandit to the floor as he continued to run through the complex. He couldn't believe that he could let her be taken.

'Left, down, right, straight,' he thought as he followed the instructions he'd been given. Moving quickly through the halls, he made his way into the basement of the building, stopping before a single door at the end of a hall. 'There.' Running to it, he quickly opened the door to find a dimly lit room; the pungent mix of must and metallic odors instantly assaulting his senses. Peering into the room, he felt as his blood ran cold.

There, on the far wall, was Ino. As he slowly closed the distance between them, he saw small cuts that lined her body through the rips in her clothes; her hair frazzled and covering her face. Kneeling down to her, his voice barely escaped his body. "Ino?" he whispered. He watched as she slowly looked up at him, her eyes dull; vacant.

"Naru...to?" she slowly questioned. He could see it on her face. He could hear it in her voice. She hadn't just been taken, she'd been _taken_.

He could feel as his anger began to bubble. Like bile burning his throat, it stung his very being to see and know what they'd done to Ino. He wanted to find Gato. He _needed_ to find him. No… he needed to _kill_ him.

Then… nothing.

* * *

Like watching through a window, Naruto saw as his body was covered by the red chakra of Kurama. He saw as the chakra crawled across his skin like water flowing over a bed of stone before hardening into plate-like pieces. From each plate flowed another until his body was covered in a crimson veil of armour.

He saw as he bent down to Ino. He could see that those vacant eyes were regaining their life, but he also saw the confusion and slight fear that plagued her face as she stared at him. Yet he could do nothing. He could feel as his body moved and yet he could not control it. He watched as he released Ino from her bindings and picked her up; the crimson aura beginning to engulf her too as her wounds began to heal.

He felt as he took what seemed like a single step and arrived outside. Setting Ino down, he turned towards the complex before, yet again, everything went black.

* * *

Naruto gasped for air as he opened his eyes. Looking around, he found himself alone in a forest. Shaking his head, he attempted to remember what had transpired earlier, but found it all to be rather fuzzy; like a blurry picture.

"Naruto," he heard from behind him.

Turning around, he saw his partner-in-crime. "Sasuke," Naruto acknowledged. "What happened?"

"You destroyed Gato's base of operations. Do you remember what happened? When the rest of us caught up, then the entire place was gone; wiped out. Ino was unconscious and you were nowhere to be found, so we had to have Pakkun track you down," Sasuke answered, pointing to the dog that sat a few meters away.

"I-" Naruto began, attempting to try and remember. "I don't know. I don't remember. I remember that I found Ino and then… nothing."

Sasuke stayed silent for a few moments before speaking again. "Naruto, before we head back, you should know that… during Ino's time there… she was-"

"I know. I know what happened to her. Let's just go," Naruto said as he got up, the anger he had felt before beginning to bubble up once again.

* * *

He still couldn't believe what had happened to Ino. Inoichi closed his eyes for a few seconds as he calmed his breathing. Opening his eyes, he almost glared across the table at the younger blond. "You promised," he all but whispered, looking at the three male members of Team Seven.

Naruto's fists tightened as his brow furrowed. "I know. I failed her."

"No you didn't. I did," Kakashi said from beside Naruto. "As an instructor, I should have noticed earlier."

The younger blond averted his gaze, looking over to the bookshelf to his right. "I made a promise. I swore to protect her, but… when the time came, I wasn't able to-" Naruto stopped as something caught his eye. Getting up from his chair, he felt himself compelled to advance towards it.

Inoichi and Kakashi could only watch in confusion as Naruto seemingly rose in a daze; walking towards the Yamanakas' bookshelf and pulling out a single book. It was leatherbound; rather large in comparison to the other books. Inoichi recognized it as a book that was given to him by Minato all those years ago; back when he'd only just become the Fourth.

"What is this?" Naruto asked, turning around to the two jonin.

"It was a gift from your father," Inoichi responded. "It's about-"

"The Many Worlds Theory," Naruto finished, his eyes glazed over and his brows furrowed, like he was attempting to forcibly recall forgotten memories.

Sasuke's ears instantly perked up at Naruto's words. "Naruto. Is that-"

"Yeah… I think it is." Naruto began to sift through the book; his eyes darting from page to page as flashes of memories began to appear in his mind. Scrolls, seal formations, everything from those last few moments of his others' life. He felt the book fall from his hands as he grabbed at his heart. He felt cold as his heart throbbed; like it had been struck. His knees soon followed, buckling as he fell to the floor.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, dashing to the blond's side. Helping Naruto sit up, Sasuke saw as the boy's brows furrowed once again.

"I remember, Sasuke," Naruto told the Uchiha through ragged breaths. "I remember why we came back." He gave a weak laugh through the pain. "It wasn't for us. It never was."

"What are you talking about?" Kakashi asked as he crouched down to the two.

"The reason why Sasuke and I came back. It wasn't so that we could get stronger. It was to pass on the technique; to stop everything at its root. We came back for the Hokage."

* * *

Naruto layed back in bed as he thought of what was to occur the next day. Over the past month, he, along with Sarutobi and the others that knew of his memories, had recreated everything needed for the technique that had originally brought him and Sasuke back. By this time the next day, Sarutobi would, having performed the technique, be dead; while he, and the others that helped, could be incarcerated for treason. It was a small price to pay for possibly being able to save the lives of an infinite amount of people.

He smiled as he brought a small locket up to his face; a gift from Inoichi. Opening it, he stared at the picture of Ino smiling inside. He hadn't seen her since they'd arrived back from Wave. From what he heard, she was still readjusting to men; the trauma from her time captive causing her to break down whenever she came in contact with a male. All of these lives that he would save by doing this and yet he was unable to save her from the horrors she'd faced.

"Shit," he chuckled woefully as a small tear rolled down to the sheets beneath him.

* * *

He closed his eyes as he felt the flare of chakra from the top of Hokage Rock die down. It was done. The ANBU would likely find Sarutobi's body any moment now and if they somehow found evidence of the others' involvement, they would likely be taken in within the hour. As Naruto opened his eyes and stood up from his bed, he heard a knock from his front door.

'That was… really quick,' Naruto thought as he went to open it, only to find a familiar blonde standing before him.

"Hi," she whispered.

A small smile began to grow on his face as he spoke her name. "Ino."

* * *

 **Well, that's the end folks. I know it's really short and it all happened pretty quickly, but I just haven't had the time or motivation to work on this along with my other projects and responsibilities.**

 **IMPORTANT: If you wish to perhaps continue this or do anything of the sort then please feel free to contact me and I will get back to you as soon as I can.**

 **ALSO, if you wish to see my other projects, please head over to my YouTube channel: Hikaru Kin**


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